


The Era of Avatar Jaya: Book 1: Guidance

by ToastyHotPockets



Series: Avatar: The Era of Jaya [1]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Bending (Avatar), Developing Friendships, F/F, F/M, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Humor, Modern Era, Next Avatar, Post-Avatar: The Legend of Korra, Slow Burn, Swearing, the next Avatar - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-21
Updated: 2017-03-12
Packaged: 2018-09-10 19:07:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 19,914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8929804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ToastyHotPockets/pseuds/ToastyHotPockets
Summary: The successor of Avatar Korra has died 14 years ago, and we have not yet found the next avatar. [Rating may change]





	1. Back to the Basics

**Author's Note:**

> The story is not beta'ed so expect some mistakes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is just a place to put down my own little story. Leave any suggestions and feedback on my story and enjoy.

"Hands up where I can see them!" I heard the sound of a pistol being cocked. I turned around and dropped my gray bag. I put my hands up in the air while the man walked up to me. He was clearly fake, a gang member probably. There was a boy a few years younger than me. He looked scared and unsure of what he was doing. They were stupid to try and rob someone wearing a military uniform.

"Good evening, officer. A beautiful day isn't it?" I say calmly.

"Shut up!" He walks toward me. I see his badge and confirms that they are fake.

"Now, officer, I don't know what I did wrong, I-"

"I said shut up unless you want a bullet through your head!" He kneels down to look through my bag. I kick him, bend down and use him as a shield against the boy. The boy looks terrified, shaking.

“What are you doing?! Shoot, damn it!” The man’s nose is bleeding and he looks furious. The boy backs up, dropping the gun and running away. The man curses as I throw him to the ground. I pick up my bag and run to the nearest building. I climb up the ladder and reach the rooftop. The man recovered quickly and is climbing up the ladder as I jump to another building.

After a few minutes of him chasing me, I climb down and he shoots his gun. I try to dodge it, but instead, I feel a burning pain in my upper right arm. I let out a cry of pain and get up quickly, rounding a corner and jumping over a brick wall with the help of my firebending. I hear the gravel crunch under his feet as he runs.

“Fuck!” He runs off and once I’m sure he’s gone, I climb over the wall and walk the opposite way. I soon enter the busy streets of the city and enter a small store. The cashier greets me in a monotone voice. It’s a middle-aged man who looks like he hasn't showered for weeks.

“Hi, um, do you sell any bandages?” He points the back corner of the store. “Thanks.” I limp over to the corner and grab a package. I bring it back to the counter.

“That will be four yuans.” I take out my wallet and pay for it. I walk out of the store and try to figure out where the hell I am. Luckily, I wasn't too far from my neighborhood. I start to walk as I try to ignore the pain. A few people looked at my arm with a confused expression on their face, but they didn't ask about anything. Once I reach the suburbs of Republic City, I look around to see that not much has changed. Walking on my street, a few kids were playing basketball in the driveway of their house. I see a familiar house made of wood and an elderly woman sweeping the porch.

"Hello, Mrs. Wu." I wave at the elderly woman. She stops and stares at me. She drops the broom and walks over to me, smiling. I adjust the strap of my bag to cover the wound as she embraces me.

"Hello, Jaya, it's so nice to see you again! It's been so long. How tall are you?" she asks in an excited manner.

"I was 5'11 last time I checked." I chuckle at her expression.

"Oh my, you have changed so much. You got stronger, I bet."

"Ha, thanks. I gotta get going. It was nice seeing you again."

"Good bye dear." She stands and watches me walk over to my house, a dark, gray house. I take out my key and open the door. My father was in his recliner, watching television.

"Hey, dad." He ignores me as I frown. I head over to the kitchen and see my mother on her phone. "Hi, mom." She looks up.

"Your freshman year starts tomorrow." I know exactly which high school I was going to, Fire Lord Zuko High. It was a ten-minute walk from the house and was great with their sports teams. She looks at my arm.

"What happened to your arm?" The sudden change of topic leaves me confused.

"What? Oh, it's nothing. Two guys just tried to mug me." She looks back down at her phone.

"Stupid girl." I walk out of the kitchen and back to the living room where my father was drinking from a bottle. I walk up the stairs and head over to my room. As I open the door, I notice that nothing has been touched. Hell, there’s even dust on the doorknob. My room was very plain, gray walls with the paint peeling, a bed on the right corner and a desk on the other. I drop my bag and walk over to the window across the room, in between the bed and desk. I open it in an attempt to bring in some fresh air. I walk over to my closet and try to find something that would fit me after I stopped coughing from the amount of dust present in the room. I found a plain white tee shirt that fit me perfectly and some basketball shorts, everything else was too small.

I decided that after school I would go and donate all of my old clothes and buy new ones. I hang up my uniform and decide to clean and stitch it up later. I pull out the bandages and get tweezers and clean them. I take a seat at my desk and clean the wound first before I put a towel in my mouth in an attempt to muffle the screams of pain. I use the tweezers to slowly pull out the bullet. The pain was pure agony. After I pull the bullet out, I put it on a tissue and start to wrap the wound. After doing so, I decided to clean the place up a bit. I wiped off the dust from the doorknob, desk and the shelf above my desk. I packed my gym clothes, a black shirt, red shorts, an extra pair of socks and sneakers.

I laid awake in bed as I try to fall asleep. School wasn't so bad before, I only have to deal with snobbish, dramatic, immature kids for 4 years. Simple, right? Only it would be worse. They would make insults about sensitive topics. Tactlessness. They could ram someone's head into the locker and would still think it's a joke. I just have to stay strong... like I did for the last few years.

 

It must've been six thirty in the morning when I woke up. I stood up and got dressed groggily. I put on a clean plain white shirt, black jeans, a hoodie, and a pair of beat-up sneakers. I brush my teeth and walk downstairs with my bag. I walk into the kitchen and remember what happened the previous day. I sit down on a chair and try to think about how the day would play out, but my anxiety got the best of me. After a few minutes of sitting there, I got up and walked out the door. I walked in the late- August morning as it was starting to get colder. Having walked to the school, the parking lot was already full. I walk to the entrance of the building.

"Jaya!" a voice calls out to me from behind. A teenage boy with a wide grin spread across his face, taller than me by a few inches, wraps his arm around me. He has an undercut with the top grown out, brown eyes and black thick framed glasses similar to mine, though I don't always wear them. I give him a small smile.

"Hey, Kaito. Long time since we've seen each other, bro." We walk past the statue of Fire Lord Zuko and up the stairs.

"It's been forever! Where'd you run off to, sis?" I raise my eyebrow at him.

"You didn't know?" His smile disappears and he shakes his head.

"No, you just disappeared. Nobody knew what happened." Walking through the halls, we saw students were getting ready for their classes.

"I'll explain everything later." I give him a small smile.

"Even about how you got that scar on your eyebrow?" I nod my head and he brightens up.

"I got your schedule for you, the girl wouldn't stop talking." I chuckle at his impression of the girl. "Hey, you're really cute! Let me show you around the school. This is the boys' bathroom, don't go into the girl's bathroom you little perv! Don't go to the roof, Seniors will tell you there's a pool on the third floor. You can join clubs, blah blah blah." He says this in a high pitched voice which makes me chuckle. He goes back to his regular tone "One moment she's calling me cute, the next she's calling me a perv! Like, what the fuck is this shit? Then she wants to give me a tour." A blonde girl walks up to us with a very angry expression written on her face.

"Are you making fun of me?!" she says as her face grows red.

"Um, no?" Kaito gives her a sheepish grin. She throws a bottle of water at us, splashing water all over us and walks away.

"Look at what you did Kaito,"  I say while I try to wipe the water off of my face. "You need to control your mouth."

"Sorry. At least the schedules didn't get wet." He hands me my schedule. "Your locker number is 116, right next to mine." The locker combination was written on the slip of paper. We walk the rest of the way to our lockers making jokes and him filling me in on how our other friends were doing. "Elkai is going to join us during lunch," he says. Elkai was the only one of our friends that were also going to Fire Lord Zuko High.

"Seriously?" Kaito smiles. Elkai is his best friend. Having reached our lockers, we grab our books and head to our class. On the back of the paper was a map of the whole school. The classrooms and teachers' names were labeled. I look for the classroom where literature was being held in, not being very far away. It took me two minutes to walk to the classroom. The door was open and walked in. The walls were painted white with bookshelves accompanying the teacher's desk. In the front of the classroom was a whiteboard with markers placed in the holder on the top left of it. I took a seat in the third row as more students filed in.

At exactly eight o'clock, the teacher walked in and closed the door. He walked to the front of the class and spoke. "My name is Mr. Choski." His voice was soft and explained the daily routine. He was over six feet tall and was dressed in a shirt and tie. After the explanation, he gave us a worksheet to fill out.

"This worksheet is to help me know more about you guys. You can answer the questions that you feel comfortable with me knowing about you." He was likable and open-minded and very patient. The class was fine except for a kid who kept throwing paper balls at me. He stopped after I looked him in the eye and told him to stop. As I exited the classroom, Kaito joined me in walking to our next class, writing. The classroom was very different from Mr. Choski's. The walls were gray, the lighting was dim and the whiteboard had writings all over it. This time, the class was almost full with only a few available seats. I take the one nearest one near me which was right next to the wall in the back of the room. Kaito sits a few seats to my right.

"Good morning class! My name is Mr. Aluki," a voice boomed. The teacher was standing in the very front of the room. He had short curly hair, fierce blue eyes and was about the same height of Mr. Choski. Mr. Aluki looked like he was in his twenties and was dressed less formally, a button up shirt and khakis. "In this class, we will be studying styles of writing and will hopefully write our own stories." He picks up a stack of papers and asks a girl from the water tribe to pass them out. "The papers being passed out is going to be the outline of the year. Half of the semester we will be focusing on character creation and development, the next will be about spirituality. On the start of the second semester, we will about mover scripts and advertising." The girl hands me one of the papers. "I will be perfectly honest with all of you, treat me with respect and I will promise that I will be fun and will give you guys fun projects instead of tests. No pop quizzes, no finals whatsoever."

The class silently cheered with people looking at each other with a smile on their face. Kaito looks at me and does a little celebratory fist pump. Mr. Aluki continues, "As a kid, I despised taking tests and thought they lacked creativity. I will try my best to get everyone involved in the lessons and enjoy this learning experience. Oh yeah, almost forgot, every class there will be a daily edit where you have to fix the grammar errors in a sentence, a very easy way to earn extra credit for I am collecting your notebooks every week." He went on talking about himself for a few minutes and changed the topic. "Now you all have learned some things about me, I designed a project to learn more about someone else in this class." He picks up a cup looks at the whole class. "In this cup are numbers, you will each pick a slip and go to the other person who picked out the same number."

He walks around, cup in hand and lets people choose a number. He comes over to me and I grab a number. Eight. Once everyone had a number he set the cup on his desk. "Now that everyone has a number, go and find the person who has the same number as you." Everyone got up and started asking each other what number they had. A skinny teenage boy asked me what number I had but was not a match. I could see that Kaito got bad luck and was partners with the blonde girl that threw water at us. I stifled my laugh as a girl with light, golden brown hair walked over to me.

"Hi, uh, what number do you have? Mine is eight." I look at her hazel- green eyes, getting lost in them.

"Uhm, I guess we're partners," I say as I look at the scrap of paper in my hand. "Here, sit down." I stand up and offer her the seat.

"Thanks, but I can stand." She gives me a small smile.

"No, it's fine, really. You should sit down." She sits down and pushes a loose strand of hair behind her ear. I stand awkwardly as people talk with their newfound partner.

"My name's Nami, by the way." She looks at me again.

"Jaya. Nice to meet you." I say. She smiles again and looks down.

"Alright, class! Has everyone found their partner?" He looks around and smiles. "Good, now for the project. Since we are starting with character creation and development, we are making trading cards about each other. You have the option to make your partner into a superhero or just make a card about them now. Be as creative as you want. Get to know each other until the end of class. I will be at my desk if you have any questions or problems." The class erupted with chatter as I pulled a chair next to Nami and rolled up the sleeves of my maroon hoodie. Her skin was fair, and she had a skinny figure. Her jade green hoodie complimented her eyes and was hung loosely on her narrow shoulders, the sleeves going past her palms and stopping just at her fingers. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail and her jaw was defined. I was the first to speak.

"So, do you have any siblings?" Nami nods her head.

"I have a sister in first grade, you?" I look at her and put on my black, thick framed glasses, similar to the pair Kaito wears.

"I have a half-brother. He's actually in this class." I point to Kaito as he was about to fall out of his chair because the blonde girl pushed him. Nami giggled at the sight as I smiled. "We're quite different so, we always get into stupid fights."

"Should I be scared about that?" She has a playful look in her eyes.

"Depends." I grin at her. "Do you play any instruments?"

"I've been learning piano for a year."

"That's cool. Any sports that you play?" She shakes her head.

"I enjoy them, but they're not my first choice. How about you?"

"About what?" Nami giggles.

"Well, do you play any instruments or sports, Dopey?"

"Don't call me that." She playfully punches my right arm and smiles. I wince at the searing pain and she frowns.

"Come on, it couldn't hurt that bad." She looks worried.

"Just a bruise there is all."

"Sorry."

"Don't be." She looks down again.

"Are you gonna answer the question?"

"Oh, I play piano and guitar, but I'm not any good. I played basketball in middle school."

"You can't be that bad at playing piano and guitar, you're gonna have to prove it to me. What's your ethnic background?" She seems really interested in our conversation.

"My parents are both from the Fire Nation. How about you?" I ask.

"Well, my mom is from the Earth Kingdom and my dad is from the Northern Water Tribe."

"Two minutes!" Mr. Aluki yells.

"Nami, what's your favorite color?" Nami raises her eyebrow.

"Seriously? How old are we? Nine?" She giggles once more as I look her straight in her eye. She stops and answers.

"It's between green or white. I think you know what I'm going to ask next."

"Red," I say.

"I figured." She sighs. I smile at her. I open my mouth to speak but the bell rings and Mr. Aluki dismisses us. I put the chair back and collect my belongings.

"Hey, Nami!" She turns around and faces me. "I'm glad you're my partner." She gives me a shy smile and looks down. I exit the classroom to get to my next class. Somebody taps my shoulder and I see Kaito's hair soaked in water (I hope). I couldn't hold back my laugh as he shakes his head, getting water on me. The next two classes were pretty much the same. The teachers for advanced biology and advanced chemistry were more on the traditional side, giving us worksheets to do and things along those lines. I walked to the semi- full cafeteria and went to buy some food. The cafeteria manager was an elderly woman who smiled at everyone.

"Hello, here's your food, dear. It will be five yuans." I pay for it as she hands me a brown bag and a bottle of water.

"Thank you, ma'am." I sat down at the table Kaito was sitting at, head hanging low. I look at him, confused. "Where's your food?" He looks up.

"I might have forgotten my lunch money." He gives me a sheepish grin.

"Kaito, there's no way I'm going back in line. Look at how many people are in it." He pouts and I give in and sigh.

"Fine," I toss him the bag and he catches it with a smile on his face, but the smile fades.

"Wait, aren't you going to eat?" I raise my scarred eyebrow at him.

"I gave you the whole bag for a reason: so _you_ can eat."

"Jaya, did you even eat breakfast?" He opens the bag of chips and starts eating.

"Uh, yes?" It was my turn to give him a sheepish smile. "No? Maybe so?"  I keep smiling, hoping that he'll let it pass. but he frowns at me. I spot Nami in my peripheral vision and we make eye contact. She was with a someone else. She was paler and shorter than Nami by a few inches. She had long, wavy black hair and also wore thick framed glasses. I wave Nami over to sit with us. Nami nudges her friend's shoulder and they walk to sit with us.

"Hey, Nami." She smiles at me as I turn to her friend. "Hey, what's your name?"

"I'm Chyou." She wasn't as shy as Nami. Chyou looks me in the eye and smiles.

"I'm Kaito, Jaya's half- brother. I'm the mature one, I always have to take care of her."

"Kaito, I just gave you my lunch because you forgot your lunch money. Plus, you stick baby carrots up your nose when you're bored." The two girls are giggling.

"Hey, I stopped! But seriously, you should eat, Jaya."

"You should save up your energy just in case the blonde girl comes back to chase you and pour water on you or something worse, like coffee or juice." Kaito went silent and pointed behind me. I take a deep breath and turn around, met face to face with the girl. I turn back around and feel the water being dumped on my head. She wasn't finished, yet. She threw the bottle at my head, then walked away. Nami and Chyou giggle as I run a hand through my hair. A boy with medium length, ash brown hair that was combed to the side sits by Kaito.

"Hi, Jaya. Long time since we've seen each other." It was Elkai. He's arrogant and sarcastic, but he's a good friend. He looks at the two girls. "Who are you guys?"

"I'm Nami and that's Chyou." Elkai looks at me.

"Um, okay. Jaya, You're friends with them, right?" I nod my head.

"Acquaintances, Nami and I just met today in Writing." I look at Nami and she nods. I look back at Elkai and see that he changed a lot over the years. "What happened to your hair? It looks like a bird's nest now."

"That's what I said to him," Kaito says as Elkai rolls his eyes.

"Shut up. Anyway, are you guys going to try out for probending?" He points to me and Kaito. Kaito was the first to answer.

"I'm trying out." Elkai looks at me.

"I'm not sure." Elkai and Kaito look surprised.

"But you loved it as a kid! You and I always were watching the matches!" Kaito exclaims.

"I'll think about it, okay?" Kaito gives me a disappointed look. I turn to Nami and Chyou. "Are you guys going to sign up for anything?"

"I'm not interested in playing any sports. I'm not sure about Nami, she played volleyball and basketball in middle school." Chyou elbows Nami who was picking at her food. She looks up and I'm met with the brilliant green.

"I'm not trying out for any sports, but you should definitely try out for probending, though. The school takes a lot of pride in its sports teams ."

"Jaya, think about it. We used to dream about playing on the platform. Think about the uniforms with our names on them and the school cheering us on." Kaito tries to persuade me.

"Alright, alright. When're tryouts?" Elkai answers me first.

"Soon. Better start practicing." The bell rings, signaling the end of lunch. Kaito and I head to our lockers and get our books and get ready for the next class. In Avatar History, Mrs. Liu decided to start off the beginning of the year with an overview of the lesson she has planned tomorrow. Next came art where Mrs. Atka had us sketch inanimate objects. And then came the last class of the day, gym. Turn's out that Kaito and I had gym at the end of every regular school day together.

I went into the locker room and saw a few other girls were changing, but they were in a different section, away from my locker. The locker number was on the same slip of paper of my schedule with the combination. I put in the combination and open my backpack. I change into my shorts and running shoes my uncle gave me. I pull my shirt over my head and kneel down to my backpack, pulling out my black shirt. I look at my arm and see the bloodstained cloth. I touch the area where the cloth was red and wince. There were faint footsteps behind me.

"Oh, spirits!" I turn my head and see Nami standing at the other side of the row of lockers. "I'm so sorry!" She blushes and covers her eyes with her hands and I can feel my cheeks heat up. I put on my shirt quickly and put my bag in the locker and slam the door. I walk over to Nami and uncover her eyes.

"Stop being sorry for everything." Her cheeks turn from a deep pink to the shade of crimson. I let go of her hands and head to the courts of the gymnasium. I sit in the stands for a few minutes and see Kaito walk out of the boys' locker room with Elkai. I whistle and they turn to look at me. I walk over to them and greet Elkai.

"Hey, looks like we all have gym together," I say as I reach them.

"Jaya, did you see the girl in the locker room?" Kaito whispers.

"No, but I'm not entirely sure."

"Shit."

"Is 'shit' your favorite word, 'cause you keep saying it." Elkai looks at Kaito with an "are you serious" expression.

"No, it's 'that ass'." Kaito gives has an expression on his face that belongs to a child molester.

"Oh my- you know what? I give up. Also, that's two words dumbass." Elkai sighs as I smile at the stupidity of the conversation. It was nostalgic, reminds me of when we were in fifth grade before I was taken away. The sound of a whistle being blown catches our attention.

"Everyone out of the locker rooms, now!" Groups of students, including Nami and Chyou, walked out of the little hall where the locker rooms were located. A few students were groaning as they walked. Once everyone was seated in the bleachers he started.

"I am Mr. Nezu, your gym teacher, obviously. I will not tolerate disrespect, so to discipline you all if you do something that is unacceptable, you will be running laps the entire fifty minutes we are here. Everyone understand?" The class mumbled a "yes" to him.

"Okay, now that's settled, I can start on today's lesson. Today we are doing an obstacle course." I look behind him and see all of the equipment ranging from hula hoops to monkey bars to plain old traffic cones. Mr. Nezu walked over to the beginning of the course at the end of the basketball court on the red paint. "You sprint all the way to the cones and go through in and out, you should know. Next, we have monkey bars and then we have the footballs where you throw it at the target. If you miss, you have to go get it until you make it. You have to step inside each of the hula hoops and jump over the sawhorse. At the very end, you have to make a three-point shot. Same as the football throwing station, you have to get the ball until you make it. Now, who wants to go first?"

No one raises their hand. "Alright, how about you. Come down here," He was pointing at me. I make my way down as he asks me a question. "Do you have any siblings?" I point to Kaito as he climbs down. "You two are going to test it out for the rest of the students here. Make your way to the start of the course. And for the audience, I want to hear you guys rooting on your favorite of the two." I look to the crowd and see Nami and Chyou talking to each other, placing money between them. "On your mark, get set- false start." Kaito was a few steps ahead.

"You're going down." Kaito trash talks a lot when it comes to sports.

"I wouldn't be so cocky if I were you."

"On your mark, get set- and false start." Kaito was a few steps ahead.

"Good job, Kaito."

"Shut up." I take a deep breath and wait for the signal.

"Without any false starts, on your mark, get set, go!" Before I know it, I'm sprinting down and weaving through cones. Kaito was ahead by a few steps and we both jump up to grip the monkey bars. He has to use every bar just to get across but I skip one each time. The students are screaming their lungs out, rooting for their pick. I jump down and sprint to the football, Kaito trailing me. I set my feet and throw the football but his ball hit mine. He gets his ball and sprints back just as I'm picking mine up. He makes it and starts running over to the saw horse. I set my feet and throw the ball hitting the target. A loud cheer erupted from the bleachers. I sprint over to the saw horse as Kaito shoots the ball. The basketball hits the backboard, but the shot was too powerful. He runs over to get the ball as the crowd chants our names. He watches me do a speed vault over the horse.

"What the fuck?" I grab a ball and shoot, he does the same but I was quicker. The ball enters the basket hitting the net making a _swish_. Half of the crowd cheers and I see Nami take the yuans from Chyou. I hear footsteps and heaving breathing behind me and I turn around. "How the fuck did you beat me? I always win in races."

"Times change, Kaito." I smile at him and place my arm around his shoulder.

"I need to know where you got those moves." I laugh the comment.

"No, you don't," I say. Mr. Nezu walks up to us.

"Great job, you two. I may have to use you guys as examples every class. You could truly feel the competitiveness between the two of you."

"Thank you."

"Thanks."

"Alright, go back to your seats or else you'll be running laps." Kaito and I hurry back to the top of the bleachers where Elkai, Nami, and Chyou were sitting. Chyou was the first to speak.

"How the hell did you beat Kaito? He should've won!" I smile.

"Who knows? Maybe it's luck."

"Who wants to go next? If no one wants to go, I'll choose people." Two boys raise their hands and they start the course. The rest of gym class went by, people cheering, the runners completing the course and Mr. Nezu yelling at us. I decided to not change since my clothes weren't sweaty. I went to my locker and got my backpack and almost bumped into Nami when I walked out of the section.

"Oh, sor- nevermind." I chuckle.

"I'll see you tomorrow." 

"Yeah," she looks down and smiles. "Tomorrow." I exit the building with Kaito as we head home. The walk was silent until we reached the end of the street where we had to walk opposite directions.

"Jaya?" I look at him, his head was low and he was looking down.

"Yeah?"

"Where," He pauses, hesitating to say the next part of his next sentence. "Where did you go for those 4 long years."

"Kaito, look at me." He turns his head to the right to look me in the eye. "I promise you, I'll tell you where I went. But now, now is not the time. We're brother and sister, we've been through a lot of shit together. We don't keep secrets from each other unless it's for a good reason, right?" He looks straight ahead.

"Yeah,"

"I'll see you at school." I ruffle his hair as he chuckles. I watch him cross the street and I turn and walk. I smile as I remember the day when this all started. Father introduced us to each other. We were confused, of course, our mothers fighting. It wasn't until a few minutes after father joined in the argument that Kaito started to cry. Something told me that I should do something so, I hugged him. And he, he hugged back. The streams of tears and screaming and cursing of the three adults haunted us in our dreams. 

I reached the house and saw that there was a cardboard box in front of the door. The package was as tall as my knees and was twice my width. It was sealed with tape and on the top was an envelope wrapped in a bow with my name in cursive letters.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Should I make the chapters shorter? Please leave feedback on my writing and please leave kudos, they inspire me to write more. Please tell me about how I am doing in describing the character's detail.


	2. Old and New Bridges

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait. Anyway, here's the second chapter. I will try to update whenever I can.

_Dear Jaya,_

_I am glad to hear that you are finally back, I've missed you. I thought that I could help you out in adjusting to your new lifestyle, it's hard enough living with your parents, I imagine. In the same envelope you found this letter, I have given you five hundred yuans and a new smartphone, set up with my number and a case, as a welcome home gift. There are more gifts in the box that I'm sure you will like. I'm sorry if this letter is really short, you know that I am always busy, managing the company and all. Anyway, please come and visit me sometime during the weekend or call. More boxes are coming!_

_Love, Uncle Akahito_

In my room, I place the paper on my desk and reach for the envelope and took out the phone. The phone's case was black and had the symbol of the Fire Nation in red. I hit the power button and the screen comes to life, displaying the time and plain black wallpaper. I decide to power it off and take out the charger, plugging it into the wall. The phone starts to charge and I decide to get a pair of scissors to cut the tape that was sealing the box. I put the scissors aside and open the box, revealing the contents.

To say there was a lot of items I received is an understatement, especially if he's sending more. The box contained clothing items; two shoe boxes, a few hoodies, zip up hoodies, jackets, white shirts, black shirts, button up shirts, polo shirts, jeans, khakis, shorts, socks, snapbacks, a pair of sunglasses in a case, belts, vests, and hoodie vests. A lot for a box. No wonder it was heavy when I carried it upstairs. I thought a person was in it. I emptied out my closet and put my old clothes on my bed and hung up the new clothes. At the bottom of the box was another note saying "Your clothes are already washed" accompanied with a smiley face. Once I hung up my shirts and jackets I decided to take a break and think about where I was going to put the rest of my clothes.

I walk downstairs to the basement and looked around. There was random junk around such as a piano, acoustic guitar and an acoustic bass in the far left corner. I pull the covers off of an object, but it was just more junk that my parents didn't throw out. I put the cover back and continued to do this until I found a wooden dresser my parents got me when I was little. To be honest, I don't understand why they would buy me such a big drawer when I was little and then put it down here after using it for a little over a year. It will do, though. Getting the dresser up the stairs was tedious work. It must've taken at least an hour to get the dresser into my room. My father was just watching me with his dark brown eyes, pull the dresser up the stairs, but I think he was just tired.

Speaking of my father, Kaito and I looked very similar to him. We had the same light tan skin. Kaito had black hair from his mom, Miss Kal, and dark brown eyes from our father. The biggest difference was that Kaito and I were benders, father and my mother weren't. Miss Kal was an earthbender and so was Kaito. Me, as you can tell from earlier events, a firebender.

I folded the rest of my clothes and put them into the drawers. The dresser was placed next to my closet door and it was very dusty, I'll tell you that. The only thing I didn't put away were the two shoe boxes. I sat on my bed and opened the first box, a pair of black work boots. The other was a similar pair but they were tan. I put the tan boots inside of my closet and put the black pair by my bed. I put my old clothes into the box and folded the flaps so that they were locked. I put on my red sneakers and decided to put on my old maroon hoodie I wore today. I carried the box downstairs and opened the door. Again, my father watched, not saying anything. I didn't know where my mother was and it made me feel a little sick in the stomach. The sky was getting dark and the wind made me shiver. I walked down the streets of the suburbs and head to the city. It took awhile, but I got to the station where I could donate my old clothes. I didn't notice how hungry I was until now so I went to a small sandwich shop and used some of the money uncle gave me.

By the time I got home, it was already dark with the moon, stars, houselights, and streetlamps being the only sources of light excluding the lights from the city and the spirit portal. No one was outside and it was peaceful as to where the city was sleepless and full of life. Reaching the house I saw that dad was sleeping on the couch with the television on and with no signs of my mother being home. I walked up the stairs, trying not to disturb my father, to my room and tossed my hoodie on the chair by the desk. I grabbed my phone that was still plugged in and unlock it. I press on the only contact that's on the phone and it starts to ring.

"Hello?" The voice was deep.

"Hello, uncle."

"Jaya? You must've changed a lot. Your voice has gotten quite deep. It's.... husky, I could say." I chuckle.

"Yeah, a few people have told me I’ve changed so much."

"Well, did you get the package? I asked the authority for your size in clothing."

"They fit perfectly. Thank you for sending the gifts, you didn't have to."

"Jaya, I couldn't help it. You have gone through a lot. I couldn't pick you up, I was stuck in so many meetings. The least I could do is send you some welcome home gifts."

"I know. You always are." I could visualize him frowning through the phone.

"Alright, how about you visit me in my office this weekend?"

"Sounds good."

"I can't wait to see you. Goodnight, I have some papers to do."

"Bye."

I open one eye at the break of dawn. I remembered staying up again, not able to sleep. My guess is that I fell asleep an hour past midnight. I get up and get a plain red button up shirt, black jeans, a belt, and socks. I did my morning routine and pulled my dark brown hair into my usual hairstyle, a ponytail. Very creative, I know. I rolled up the sleeves to my elbow, put on the black pair of boots my uncle gave me and cuffed the jeans. I grabbed a black hoodie vest and put it on.

I stepped out of the house and made my way down the same route to school. Today it was gray and gloomy, clouds threatening to pour rain at any second. Kaito managed to catch up to me, and we walked to the school.

"Did you eat breakfast today?" he asks.

"No." He reaches into his backpack and pulls out a sandwich wrapped in tin foil. I noticed that he was giving me these worried looks when we talk but tries to cover it up with a smile.

"Tryouts for probending is gonna be tomorrow. You better be there tomorrow."

“You know I’ll be there.” Sports are a part of who I am, probending holding a special place in my heart. Kaito and I used to watch matches on television at our friends’ house and sometimes listen on the radio. Listening on the radio had this special feel to it. It was different from having all of the action in front of you, instead, the action is in your imagination.

The second day was somehow more hectic than the first. I noticed teens were bending, something I didn't pay attention to yesterday, the reason probably being the anxiety of how the day may have turned out. One kid metal bent a locker door off and was panicking, trying to fix it. There was a group of benders bending at other students, getting a few curses as a response. Kaito and I tried to avoid them. A small stone hit my jaw, which hurt like hell. I put my hand up to my jaw as I see blood start to stain my hands. A rock hits Kaito's face and knocks him off his feet, his glasses hitting the floor.

"Shit, you okay?"

"I'm fine," He groans and sits up as the group of teens laugh. I glare at them as they resume talking. I walk over to them and grab the teen who flung the rock at Kaito. His hair was jet black and short, combed over. I push him up against the wall and look right into his green eyes.

"You think that's funny? Well, guess what? Nobody does that to my brother and I'm gonna make you and your friends regret that." I spark a flame in my hand which makes him squirm under my grip. Pale, slender fingers wrap around my wrist and I turn my head to see green eyes that were filled with concern. Nami.

"Jaya, stop." I take one more glance at the teen, seeing pure fear in his eyes. I breathe out a puff of smoke. He punches me and the flame goes out as I drop him. He scrambles to get up and runs with his friends. Nami puts her hand on my shoulder as Kaito walks over to us. There was a bruise forming on his cheek. I hold the right side of my face and notice that there was a crowd of students who watched, but it's the least of my worries.

"Sis, you okay?"

"I'm still alive." Nami still had a grip on my wrist and I looked at her in humiliation. "Nami, I can ex-"

"Jaya, I saw what happened-"

"Nami, I gotta get to my locker, I'll see yo-"

"No," Her grip tightened, and her face showed concern. "you're going to the nurse's office." She pulls me in the direction of the school nurse. We don't talk the whole way there. She knocks on a door and is opened by a woman in her thirties. Her blue eyes looked at the two of us, then looked at the right side of my face that was bruising. Without speaking, she motions for us to come in.

"You,” she was pointing at me, “Sit here.” I do as she says as Nami stands by the door. “What’s your name?”

“Jaya.”

“Alright, Jaya, how did this happen?” I look at Nami and she answers.

“Jaya was accidentally pushed into the lockers.” The nurse nods in response.  

“Quite forcefully, you might add. Anyways, aside from your friend here, are you hurt?” Nami shakes her head. “Then, you can go to class.”  She hesitates, almost going to argue, but opens the door and walks out. “Jaya, lift up your head.” I lift up my head and look at the ceiling. “That’s a nasty cut. Hold still.” My guess is that she waterbent water from the sink’s faucet as I felt a cool liquid touch the bottom of my jaw. It stung but it quickly subsided. It took a couple of minutes until she finished, bending the water back to the sink, letting it drop into the drain. She put a band-aid on it and gave me an extra one just in case it fell off. “There’s nothing I can do about the bruise, but to give you an ice pack.” She hands me an ice pack that I put onto the side of my face and starts to scribble on a piece of paper. “Give this to your teacher.” It was a note to explain why I was late for class.

“Thanks.” I enter the empty hallway and get my books for the first period of the day. Man, what a hell of a way to start the day. Entering the geography classroom, everyone looked at me. Ms. Eka, the geography teacher, was looking at me with a raised eyebrow. I walk over to her, through an aisle of desks, feeling the gaze of the class.

“May I ask why you are late?” I put down the ice pack and raise my hand the was holding the note. Her light blue eyes skimmed the writing. “Alright, sit down.” I turn my head and see Elkai motioning at an empty seat beside him in the back of the classroom. I sit down mumbling a thank you. Ms. Eka continued with the lesson. After she started writing a few city names on the board, Elkai looked my way and started to talk.

“What the hell happened to you?” he whispered.

“I’ll tell you later.” He nodded and went back to writing down the names of the cities in the Earth Kingdom that we would be learning about. It was about where Kuvira, The Great Uniter (or something like that), built the monorail to different villages. I found this class interesting, though, I sometimes spaced out because of how slow the class was. Finally, the class ended and Elkai and I both went to economics. There, we learned about the first mover and its profit. Yup, we’re talking about the original “Nuktuk, Hero of the South” in black and white.

I didn’t really pay attention to the class because it was just an introduction and they were fighting over the which was the best mover in the Nuktuk series, but what worried me most was that I had writing class next. That meant seeing Nami and explaining the way I reacted. I already screwed up and I just got here. My anger caused heat to rise up to my face and melt the ice in the zip lock bag. Elkai was startled at the sight. He taps my shoulder and points to the lukewarm water in the bag.

“D’you want me to bend that back to ice?”

“Yeah, sure,” He bends the water into a single block of ice and I put it back up to my face. “Thanks.”

“No problem.”

Writing class finally rolled around and I had a sick feeling in my stomach. I took a seat in the back of the class and put on my hood. My chin was resting atop of the desk as everyone started to fill in the empty chairs. I just looked down with trepidation. I heard the squeak of the chair to my left and saw that Kaito was sitting down. The left side of his face was turning purple and a temple of his glasses was metalbent back to the hinges.

“Psst.” He turns to me and I toss him the ice block in the bag that he catches and puts it up to his cheek.

“Today for class, just keep getting to know each other and possibly start on the cards. If you need blank index cards, there are some on my desk.” The class was noisier, the feeling of tension had almost vanished from them, but it didn’t for my case.

“Hopefully, my partner doesn’t try to break the block of ice with my head,” Kaito said bitterly as I laughed and he reciprocated the action.

“Good luck,” I say.

“Pffft, you’re the one who needs it if you wanna become friends with Nami.” He walked to the blonde girl who seemed a bit calm, the malice seemed to disappear from her eyes. I heard the sound of a chair being pulled up next to me. I spotted a figure in my peripheral vision that sat down. My brain had no idea what to say to her. I felt her tap my shoulder and I met with her green eyes. She pushes the hood back and we both look at each other, no words were spoken. She had this cold look in her eyes, something different from when we first met. I take a deep breath before speaking.

“Nami-”

“Why?” I pinch the bridge of my nose. "Why did-”

“I can explain.”

“Then explain it to me.”

“Well, I, um, I- Fuck,” She raises an eyebrow at me. “That’s not my explanation.”

“C’mon, just tell me why. It can’t be that bad, can it?”

“No, it’s just that I sorta can and sorta can’t tell you the reason.”

“Why? Tell me, Jaya.”

“‘Cause it will change what you think of me.”

“It’s a bit too late for that. When we first met, the way you spoke, the way you acted was different from this morning. What are you? A gang member? A serial killer? A robot? Just tell me.”

“I can’t!” I sigh from my state of frustration and run a hand through my hair, pushing a few loose strands away from my face. “Shit, I’m sorry.”

“Just go on.”

“I told you I can’t tell you all of it.”

“Then, tell me what you can because right now I just think you’re like all of the other students here. Just the way you handled the situation was just- I don’t know. I just don’t wanna be friends with somebody who is just violent.”

“Nami, you said you saw the whole thing. They hit Kaito first. I was just protecting my brother and putting them in their place.” Nami didn’t look satisfied with my answer.

“So you decided to threaten them?”

“I- I guess I just lost it. When I went away for four years, I just missed him. Having him get hurt is the last thing I want right now. “

"Why do you care if I change the way I think of you? We've known each other for a day."

"I just don't want to mess things up early with you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, please leave feedback/ advice and any suggestions about what you would like to see in future chapters. Also, should I write in Nami's POV? I'm sorry about the mess of the beginning of the chapter with like the backward hat XD. I had no idea what I was writing or even thinking so..... sorry about that XD


	3. Progress

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Early Update! :D

Of course, having said that there was an awkward silence with Nami looking surprised and me cringing and internally facepalming.

"Shit- can we forget I said that?" She just looked at me.

"Uh, sure." Can this day get any worse? "Let's just get this project done."

"Yeah. I'll go get the index cards." I got up from my seat and walked over to Mr. Aluki's desk, grabbing two blank cards and walking back. I dropped one in front of her before I sat down. She asked for a piece of paper to lay out ideas and started writing. Time passed by quickly, I didn’t even write two words on the paper and Mr. Aluki was telling us that the project was due on Thursday because he “Doesn’t want to take long on this project.”

“Since the project is due literally two days from today, I guess one of us has to go to the other’s house.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“I don’t trust you as much, I hope you know that.” Embarrassment is an understatement for what I was feeling. “Maybe, we can meet up at my house, with my parents. That okay with you?” I nodded.

“Can you text me the address?” Nami took out her phone, the case was white with green, paint-like splatters on it, all a different shade. I take out my phone and add a new contact for her to fill out her information. She does this and sends a text message saying “hi”, making sure that I got it. My phone lit up with the words saying I got it from Nami.

“I’ll just text you the information later.”

“All right.” She got up, pulled my hood over my head and left. She smiled a little but tried to cover it up by coughing and saying-

“I still don’t trust you!” I smile at the sudden playfulness.

* * *

 

Lunch was awkward. Nami, Chyou, Kaito, Elkai, and I were all sitting at the same table just like yesterday, except this time Chyou was sitting next to me near the edge of the table. Nami kept eyeing me while Chyou kept poking my jaw and asking me if it “hurt”.

“No, it doesn’t.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really.”

“Are you sure?” Nami, I’m guessing, nudged her side, signaling her to stop. Chyou nodded and moved on to talking to Kaito. “How’d you guys get hurt anyway?”

“Yeah, Jaya. You said you would explain what happened.” Elkai chimes in. I look at Kaito, his face was blank, but his eyes were saying he didn’t want to explain this morning’s events.

“I got into a fight with a group of other students.” Chyou’s eyes widened while Elkai brushed it off and ate his lunch.

“I was expecting something more, but, okay.” Chyou was giving this “are you serious” face. Elkai looked up. “What?”

“Aren’t you concerned that Jaya could’ve gotten kicked out?”

“No, not really,” he said while chewing. Before Chyou could say anything else Kaito changed the subject of the conversation.

“Hey, Elkai, are you gonna try out for probending tomorrow?”

“No.”

“What?” Kaito and I both say in unison.

“I’m not trying out.”

“Why not?” Kaito had disbelief written all over his face.

“I don’t want to.”

“C’mon, there has to be a better reason, or else I’ll force you to try out.”

“I just don’t want to. Besides, they’re only gonna get three players on the team. Besides, we're freshmen. What are the chances of us making the team? ”

“We have a chance. You have a chance.”

“No, I don’t, I’m terrible at bending.”

“Eh, not really. You’re pretty good. A little mediocre is all.” I say with a grin.

“That doesn’t help with my self-esteem, Jaya.”

“I wasn’t trying to boost it.” Kaito decided to threaten him.

“Alright, I’m gonna force you to try out just like what we did to Jaya." I sigh as I recall the moment when Kaito gave me this pout and called me a terrible sister, so I gave in and agreed to try out.

“What are you gonna do?” Elkai challenged the earthbender.

“I’m gonna blackmail you!” Chyou and Nami looked at each other, with the popular raised eyebrow everyone does.

“Kaito, keep it down, you’ll raise suspicion.” Chyou and Nami look at me as I eat my lunch. “What?”

“Kaito, what could you use to blackmail me?”

“If I tell everyone, it wouldn’t be considered blackmail anymore, would it?”

“Can we change the topic? You guys are scaring me.” Nami didn’t look up from her empty tray as she said this.

“Yeah, Kaito. You’re gonna get us in trouble. The staff will think we’re forming some sort of cult.” Before he could respond, the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch. Nami was the first to get up, throwing away her lunch and leaving the cafeteria. Of course, Chyou said goodbye and chased Nami. Kaito and I left together as Elkai was frowning because of his loneliness. Kaito and I got our books for the next class and went our separate ways. I had speech next and after was a free period. The paper explained that all students that had a free period had to go to the cafeteria and were able to hang out with other people.

The classroom for speech was significantly larger with desks replaced with long tables, one could fit the students in one row. One of the most noticeable differences was that the front of the room was a stage like platform with two podiums and chairs on it. As usual, I took a seat at the back of the class, giving me a better view to take in my surroundings. Mrs. Luo, I believe her name was, was sitting behind her desk, preparing today’s class. The class was almost full, but there was a vacant seat in front of me.  As class was about to start, I turned to look at the door, only to see that Nami walked through. We made eye contact, but she looked away. She sat in front of me, turning her head slightly to look at me. “Hello class, my name is Mrs. Luo. We will be doing many debates in this class, and other team related activities so that you guys won’t be left out. But today, we will be discussing the speech Avatar Korra made after Harmonic Convergence.”  The rest of class went by slowly with me basically burning holes in the back of Nami’s head. What confused me was why would she sit in front of me? She said she didn’t trust me and then, out of all of the unoccupied seats, she sits in front of me.

Oh, and guess what, I also had free period with Nami, but with the Elkai, Kaito, and Chyou. They helped with the tension by telling stupid jokes and Kaito and Elkai arguing. Gym was tame, I guess. We weren't beating each other to death, which I appreciated, but we played dodgeball. I aimed at Kaito and Elkai and gave them bruises and red marks on their skin and vice versa. Nami almost got hit by a ball, but I managed to save her from it. I didn't leave unscathed from it, though. My arm was burning when I got to the sidelines.

We walked out of the gymnasium, walking into the locker rooms and retrieving our belongings. I checked my phone to see that Nami already texted me the information for our “meet up”. Kaito and I walked home, again, saying goodbye and separating. Nami said we could meet up in about an hour so I got ready. I changed into a red polo shirt my uncle gave me, slim fit khakis which I cuffed and a resolve jacket. I figured that I might need my glasses, so I brought them with me. I exited the house, noticing that my parents weren’t home. I was worried, but I tried to ignore it. I texted Nami that I was on my way and went down the street.

Nami said we could meet up in about an hour so I got ready. I changed into a red polo shirt my uncle gave me, slim fit khakis which I cuffed and a resolve jacket. I figured that I might need my glasses, so I brought them with me. I exited the house, noticing that my parents weren’t home. I was worried, but I tried to ignore it. I texted Nami that I was on my way and went down the street.

* * *

 The sound of a doorbell was audible from outside of the two-story house. It was cream and had gray, brick-like stones lining the front of the door. The yard was neatly trimmed and watered. There were small bushes lining the yard and there was one of those fancy lamp posts on the sidewalk. The door opened and revealed a woman, who was most definitely Nami’s mother, with a warm smile on her face.

“Hello, you must be Nami’s friend.” Her voice was just as warm.

“I’m Jaya.” I reached out my hand and she shook it.

“Jaya, I’m Mrs. Chang, but you can call me Bai. Here, come in.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Chang, for having me here.” The television, mantled above the fireplace, was on, showing a basketball game. A man who was sitting on the couch looked at me and stood up.

“Hello, I’m Hakan.” We shook hands as he placed a hand on my shoulder. He was tall with broad shoulders and had short, dark brown hair and deep blue eyes.

“Jaya, pleasure to meet you.”

“Nice to meet to meet you too. Wanna watch the game with me?”

“I’m sorry, but as much I would love to watch the game, I came over to work on a project with Nami, Mr. Chang.” He chuckled and patted my shoulder.

“Not a slacker, I see. Follow me.” We went up the stairs and he knocked on a pristine white door. “Nami, Jaya’s here.” The sound of footsteps could be heard and the doorknob twisted, opening. Nami was standing, still in her school clothes including her sneakers. “I’ll leave you two alone to work on your project.” He leaves us, walking down the stairs.  Nami turned back and walked to a small desk by the wall.

“Aren’t you gonna come in?”

“I was just waiting for the green light word since you don’t trust me.” Her room was painted jade green with a small window in the middle of the wall, just like my bedroom. Her bed was in the corner of the room, by the door. There two shelves above her desk, one over the other. The bottom one had a light, lighting up the surface of the desk. In fact, it was the only light on. “You have a nice room.”  

“Thanks.” The shelves had photographs of her family and random miscellaneous such as one of those three by three by three puzzle cubes where you have to match all of the colors on all sides. It was mixed up so my first instinct was to solve it. I grabbed it from the shelf and started to solve the first two layers. Once I was done with that, I solved the yellow side and permuted it. The cube made a lot of noise while I turned it. “Thanks for messing the cube even mo-” She stopped mid-sentence. “Wait, you solved the Sato Cube?” She rushed over and grabbed the cube from my hands.

“Uh, yeah. Why?” She examined the cube, turning it.

“My cousin gave me this three years ago and I haven’t been able to solve it.”

“I can teach you how to solve it if you want me to.”

“You’re making it really hard for me to hate you.”

“Why do you want to hate me?”

“Let’s just get started on the project.” She grabbed a swivel chair and pulled it up to the desk. She sat down and motioned me to come. I sat down beside her. “Here’s an index card. Do you want to draw first?”

“Sure. I will warn you, though. I have the art skills of a five-year-old.” She giggles and looks at my eyes. I start to make a head and a body, deciding it would be better to only show the top half of her body. It took me fifteen minutes to add the smaller details until I was done. “Alright, you can stop posing now.” She relaxed as she took a look at the drawing.

“That’s really good. Just give me a few minutes to rest, you took forever.”

“At least I didn’t make you look like badger mole.”

“If you made me sit there and you drew a badger mole, I would have thrown you out the window. Now it’s my turn to make you sit and do nothing while I draw a dragon.”

“I swear, if you draw me as a dragon, that would be really cool.” She groaned.

“I was kidding. I was just gonna draw you with a flame in your hand.”

“Oh, that’s still cool.” She took less time drawing me, but I had to lift up my hand so she could draw where the flame would be. Overall, her drawing was perfect. “It’s like I looking at a photograph of myself.” She blushed and giggled at the compliment.

“Thanks.” The door to her room creaked, a little girl looking at us.

“Nami?” Her voice was soft and high pitched like every other child’s. She ran behind Nami’s chair. She peeked at me then hid again.

“Akemi, why are you here?” Nami said in a soft tone.”Why are you hiding?” The little girl pointed at me. “Who? Jaya? She’s not gonna hurt you.” Akemi came out of her hiding place but was hugging Nami tightly. Akemi looked a lot like Nami. Akemi looked like a younger Nami, the same hair color, and facial structure. The only difference was eye color, Akemi had brownish, hazel like eyes compare to Nami’s greenish hazel eyes.

“Hi,” I say, voice cracking a little bit. Akemi giggled, which made me smile. Once she stopped giggling, she went back to looking at me like I was Vatuu.

“All right, Akemi, go back to your room or go downstairs with mom and dad. Jaya and I have to work on a project.” She took one last look at me and walked out the door.

“You have a really cute sister, she looks just like you.”

“Thanks.” A moment later she blushed again. “We should start coloring them. We both reached out to pick up a color pencil, our hands brushing. I finished coloring just as she was about to ask me a question. “What color are your eyes? It’s hard for me to explain the color. It’s like gold in the middle with tints of red on the outside.”

“That’s how I would explain it.”

“You have really nice eyes, to be honest.”

“Thanks.” We finished off with coloring and adding in the backstory and information about the characters. I made Nami an artist that uses a paintbrush with magical powers as a weapon. She made me a villain, an arsonist. My backstory was that I was a firefighter that got obsessed with burning things. “I’m surprised you trust me with holding a pencil.”

“Yeah, I thought you were gonna stab me.“

“What do I have to do to make you trust me?”

“Gain my trust.” I sighed as she laughed.

“No shit, Sherlock, but really, what do I have to do?”

“I don’t know. Show me that you’re not like the rest of the spoiled kids in the school.” It took some time for me to think of something. “Hey, you okay? You look like you’re contemplating all of life’s questions.”

“I got it!” She raised her eyebrow at me.

“You got what?”

“How about we go anywhere you want. We enjoy the place and get to know more about each other.”

“You expect me to go out in public with you. What if you’re trying to kidnap me?”

“You’ll just have to trust your instinct on this one.”

“Alright, where would we go?”

“I don’t know, but my spontaneous ass will think of something.” She sighed and got up from where she was sitting on her bed.

“I’ll go tell my parents I might be going with you somewhere. When are we gonna go to this unknown place?”

“How about this Friday?”

“Sounds great.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about my babbling with the Sato (Rubik's) Cube.


	4. Republic City Pier

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapter's a bit shorter than usual.

I was standing in front of the cream-colored house I went to a few days ago. My fingers landed on the doorbell, pushing it. The ring was muffled and barely audible from where I was standing. It was quite chilly out, about 6:30. The lock clicked and the door was pulled open.

“Good evening, Mrs. Chang,” I say.

“Hello, Jaya. Nami is almost ready.” She turns around and yells. “Nami, hurry up, Jaya’s waiting!”

“Tell her to take her time, we’re in no rush.”

“Oh, it’s fine. She’s as slow as a snail.”

“I heard that!” a voice shouted from inside the house. Akemi was standing by her mother, holding a stuffed turtle duck toy.

“Hi." I paused, "Well, my voice didn’t crack this time.” Akemi smiled tried to hide it using the stuffed animal. I heard footsteps approaching us.

“Alright,” it was Nami. “I’m ready.”

“It’s about time! Jaya’s been waiting for you for an hour.”

“It’s only been a minute since you’ve yelled at me!”

“You should have been ready five minutes ago!”

“Can we just go now?”

“I still need to explain the rules.” Nami groaned. “Since it’s a Friday night, you guys can stay out late, but be home by 11:30.”

“You have my word, Mrs. Chang.”

“Can you defend yourself?”

“I’m a firebender and I made the probending team, is that good?”

“Wow, a firebender. Can I trust you with Nami?”

“Um, you will have to decide, but if something is going to try and hurt her, it’ll have to go through me.”

“Do I have to remind you guys that I’m a person, not a car.” I chuckle at Nami. “Can we leave now?”

“Fine,” Mrs. Chang turns to me. “I trust you.” Akemi hugs Nami as she crouches down. As soon as Nami stands up we walk down the street to the nearest bus stop.

“So, where do you want to go?” I ask.

“I’ve never been to the Republic City Pier before.”

“What? You’ve never been to the Republic City Pier?” Nami nods her head. “How?” She shrugs. “Well, let’s go.” We walk to the bus stop and wait there. We sat down near the back of the bus, looking out the window and enjoying the change of scenery, from houses and the suburbs to skyscrapers and the city. We got off at our stop, a connecting route to a cable car to the pier. The cable car was crowded and made sudden stops with Nami holding onto my arm for support. The ride made me feel claustrophobic. Finally, the cable car reached the pier and we got down with the rest of the passengers.

"Y'know," Nami starts, "You haven't really told me about try outs for probending."

"Oh. Well, like, eight other people showed up. Elkai, Kaito and I made the team. Then three others were placed as back up."

"Seriously? That's it?"

"Well, our training was to see how agile we were, our accuracy and reflexes. I guess everyone else was a spoiled rich kid who never had to fight in their life."

"So you are a gang member."

"Spirits. No, I'm not." She laughed. Finally, the cable car reached the pier and we got down with the rest of the passengers.

The place was full of life and lights. The sound of laughter, talking, automobiles, waves crashing, and music filled our ears. Air Temple Island and Avatar Aang Memorial Island was illuminated with lights. I looked at Nami, her face awestruck. I chuckle at her expression and nudge her with my elbow.

“Hey, you still there?” She shook her head causing me to let out a small laugh.

“Where do we go first?”

“When I went here with my friends, there was a carousel.” She grabs my arm and pulls me toward the pier itself. The floor was made of wood with shops on both sides of us and bridges above us, connecting the two sides of the second floor. The path in front of us seemed to never end. When we finally did reach the end of the path, it turned into a giant circle lined with small shops and a carousel and loud music in the very middle.

“Can we go on the carousel?” I smile at her childlike expression and nod my head. The tickets were free so we went in line to go on. We weren’t the only teens to go on, there was another group of teens who were looking to have a good time.

"First floor or second?”

“Second,” she said without thinking. Once the ride stopped, the gate opened and we ran up the stairs in the middle of the structure. She climbed on top of a lion turtle while I jumped on top of a dragon. She buckled her belt just as the sound of multiple beeps signaled that the ride was about to start. “Aren’t you gonna put on your seat belt?”

“Pffft, no.” She shook her head but smiled. The carousel started to spin, faster and faster until it reached its limit. She looked around, resting her head on her hands that were wrapped around the pole in front of her. “Where will we go after this?” She took a moment to think, turning her head to face me, head still resting against the pole.

“What’s that?” She pointed towards an area that was under a deck, lights blinking displaying the all-time best scores.

“It’s a ride in a small theater where you shoot targets on a screen. It’s like a rollercoaster but you don’t go anywhere, the seats only move.” She nods her head.

“Let’s go there.” The carousel came to a stop and we jumped off, rushing down the stairs. We got down to the small theater and got tickets to the next “show”. It was fun, to say the least. The show was about steampunk werewolves with jetpacks. Of course, I beat Nami in addition to getting first place. “That was really cool! Let’s go to the arcade next!” We laughed for the umpteenth time while running inside. The sound of sound effects filled our ears, blinking lights blinding us and the smell of all sorts of food filled our lungs. There was a connecting passage way to a family sports themed diner that had giant HD flatscreens showing sports games being played.

I exchanged my money for tokens and we went straight to one of the games. It was whack-a-mole. Nami held the mallet while I used my fist to hit the moles she didn’t get. It was cheating, but we didn't care. The timer reached zero and the machine started to print tickets. Next, we went to an air hockey table where we hit the puck so hard that it went flying in the air. Again, I beat Nami and we both got more tickets. This continued on for the rest of the hour with playing racing games, shooting basketballs, skee ball and other classic arcade games. I let her take the tickets to redeem them for a backpack that wasn’t available in stores. She smiled brightly at me as we exited the arcade.

“That was fun,” she says.

“Yeah. While you’re here, do you want to go to any stores and buy anything?”

“Nah, some of them are impractical. I’m not left-handed,” she says pointing at a store dedicated to left-handed people. It had left handed scissors, pencils that supported lefties and other things invented to make left handed people’s life easier. “I’m not interested in getting funky looking socks,” she was looking at a store that sold all sorts of socks “and I don’t want to spend all of your money, so thanks for the offer.”

“That’s nice of you.” We walked for a few more minutes, reaching the entrance. “You hungry?”

“Yeah, guess so.” She went to go sit down on a bench by a statue of a lion turtle on the outside of the pier’s stores. Here there were many food carts where we could buy all sorts of junk food. I walked up to a cart and bought us each a cup of noodles and a bag of fire gummies. I walked over to where she was sitting and handed her her food and a pair of chopsticks.

“Before we continue exploring the area, I feel like you deserve to know where I’ve been.”

“You went to military school.” I look at her, surprised. “It took some time to figure it out, but now that I know, it’s pretty obvious.”

“My case isn’t that obvious.”

“Okay, it wasn’t. Want me to explain the evidence?”

“As long as you don't make it sound like I’m a criminal.” She giggles before starting.

“Well, to start off, you said you went away for four years. Then, I accidentally walked in on you shirtless,” we both turn red at the memory. “You don’t get toned muscles like that by yourself.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.” She smiles while shaking her head

“On your right, upper arm there’s more than just a bruise with what I saw.” I laugh sheepishly.

“Yeah, I’ll explain that later.”

“You better, and then some smaller pieces of evidence that I’m also not sure of is your sudden aggressiveness when those teens attacked your brother and your two scars on your eyebrow.”

“The scars, I got from military school, the wound on my arm was from walking home.” She opened the bag of fire gummies and proceeded to eat. We continued to eat in silence until we finished. We threw away our food and walked down the sidewalk.

“Do you mind if I ask how you got your scar?”

“I don’t think it’s time to do that. I can tell you about my arm.” She nods her head as we walk. “So, funny story, I was walking through an alley as a shortcut to my house from the train station. As I was walking through, some guys dressed as police officers tried to mug me. One of them got scared and ran away but the other chased me through the rooftops and I got shot.”

“You suck at telling stories.” We both laugh. “Does anybody else know?”

“My mother, but that’s it.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah, my mother and father didn’t care, they must’ve been stressed out with something else.”

“Wait, they didn’t pick you up?”

“No, and my uncle was busy.”

“Oh,” she says, happiness drained.

“Hey, I liked your happiness earlier, keep it like that.” She smiles as we continue walking down. We only stopped because I noticed that she was shivering. “Hey, you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m just a little cold.” When she finished her sentence, I began to remove my black resolve jacket and handed it to her. “What are you doing?”

“You said you were cold.”

“Aren’t you going to be cold?”

“I’m a firebender, I think I could manage.” She pushed away my hand.

“Put it back on, if we keep walking, I could warm up a bit.”

“No, wear it,” I say handing it to her once again. She reluctantly took it and put it over her green and white hoodie.

“Thanks.” After a few minutes, she was still shivering.

“Still cold?”

“A bit.” I chuckle before placing my arm around her shoulder.

“Better?” She leaned in closer.

“Yeah.”

“I should get you home, I don’t want you to get sick. Surely then, you still wouldn’t trust me.” She laughs as we turn around to walk back to the pier. Nami needed to go to the restroom so while she was waiting, I went to a nearby claw machine. I used to play it a lot as a kid, Kaito and my friends would always cheat these things and actually win prizes. I couldn’t help it and I won a stuffed animal. I’ll give it to Nami. The stuffed animal was the size of my torso. It was a close relative to polar bear dogs, but I don’t know what breed it was. Beagle? Yeah, I think it’s a beagle. It had soft, light brown fur with a dopey face. It had chubby cheeks with its tongue out, its dark eyes lined with white. Overall, it was cute and it looked like if it was alive, it wouldn’t know what evil was. I thought that I should get a gift for Akemi, so I got a polar bear dog that was slightly smaller. I stood on the spot where I promised Nami that I would wait here.  After a few minutes, she was outside and walked towards me.

“Sorry, long line." She looked at the prize. "Why do you have a stuffed animal?” I pointed towards the claw machine put my hands out for her to take it.

“Take it, a souvenir. I also got one for Akemi.” I showed her the other stuffed toy. She laughs as I put it in the backpack. I didn’t stuff it all the way in, I left the head outside so that it was sticking out. I couldn’t help but laugh when I looked at it. Nami took off one strap to see what I was laughing about. When she saw the dog’s face, tongue out, looking innocent, she laughed too. “What are you gonna name it?”

“I don’t know, any ideas.”

“How about Conrad?”

“Why Conrad?”

“It sounds like comrade.”

“That’s really clever. Conrad it is.” We walk towards the cable car stop and waited. Once we got on, we didn’t talk the whole way home. We just sat with each other, relishing each other’s presence.

We reached the doorstep of her house at eleven o’ four. It’s hard for me to adjust from military time.

“So, do you trust me? If you don’t, I don’t know what else I have to do.” We laughed for the last time tonight as she responded.

“I don’t know. I’ll tell you on Monday.” We hugged, feeling her warm body against mine. The front door opened. Mrs. Chang was waiting for us. Nami pulled away.handed me my jacket before heading inside.

 "Bye, Jaya." She handed me my jacket and waved before heading inside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who do you ship so far? I ship Kaito and the blonde girl. Nami and her trust issues are my OTP so far.


	5. Coalesce

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait, but here's another chapter.

“So what are you guys gonna do after school?” The blonde girl, who dumped water on my brother’s and my head on the first day, asked. Kaito befriended her during the trading card project Mr. Aluki assigned us. I later learned that her name was Keiki when she started to join our clique for lunch. She had light brown eyes, a slim figure and was a bit shorter than Nami. Aside from her temper and rash decisions, she was shy and quiet, partially due to the fact that she thought I would be mad at her for throwing water bottles at me on the first day, which I’m not.

“Jaya, Elkai and I have probending practice so, don’t really have much free time today,” Kaito answers her.

“Right, I forgot.”

“Since they have practice, maybe you, Chyou and I can hang out?” Nami says, done with her food. Keiki smiled a bit.

“Yeah, that would be nice,” Keiki says looking down at her tray of food, still smiling.

“We can meet up after school, in front of the statue of Firelord Zuko!” Chyou was saying, unable to contain her excitement. “Let’s do something spontaneous!” Nami and Keiki looked at each other, smiling.

“Alright,” Keiki says, trying to hold back a smile from breaking out.

“Well, I’m gonna go and get ready for Avatar History. See you guys,” I say as I stand up and throw my trash away.

* * *

 “Who was the last avatar?” Mrs. Liu asks. Someone in the back raised their hand. Mrs. Liu pointed to them and a female answered.

“Avatar Yan.” I didn’t bother looking behind me. With her tone, she sounded like a smart ass.

“Correct. Now, we will be studying more about him for this semester. Can anybody tell us one thing about him?” She pointed to somebody and the same girl responded.

“He was killed during the battle against one of the leaders of the Equalists along with his friends, the leader, and troops from the police department and the Equalists.”

“Good. Anybody else?”

“He was twenty when he died.”

“Yes. How about another one?” Nobody raised their hand. “Seriously, nobody else? No, you already answered.” I made eye contact with her. “How about you, Jaya.” How does she know my name?

“He was born in Ba Sing Se.”

“Okay, now does everyone know how the avatar cycle works?” The class mumbled a yes as she moved to the smart board.

* * *

 “Yes, Jaya. This is why I chose you to be on the team.” Short bursts of fire hit the target on the dummy. My punches and kicks were swift and efficient. One last burst of fire knocks over the dummy. I’m still hopping on both of my feet when he tells me to go take a break. “Good job. Now,” he says while turning to Kaito. “Have you taken my advice and fused it with your style of fighting?” Kaito stomped on the ground to lift up an earth disk to punch it, which caused it to flying at the dummy. The disk crumbled to pieces as the target wobbled.

“Yeah,” Kaito says.

“You understand why I want you to adjust your fighting stance, right?” The earthbender nods his head.

“‘Though earth bending is about having a firm and wide stance, in probending you have to be quick in your movements, in both attacks and dodges.’ You wanted me to bounce step. It’s tiring.”

“You didn’t have to quote me word for word, but the bounce step, you’ll get used to it. Also, where did you find that headband? Take it off, you look stupid.” Kaito pouts and he pulls off the headband he found under a bench. It was bright pink and it ruined his hairline. A stream of water hits my face as I laugh at Kaito trying to take off his suit. I don’t blame him, the suits were heavier than us. The stream leaves half of my face soaked. It was Kaito and Elkai’s turn to laugh as I stare daggers at them, but my glare softened and I found myself laughing too.

“See, Elkai, you made the team.”

“Take that for my skills being mediocre, Jaya.” I shrugged.

“Hey, sucks to your doubts.”

“Hey! Quit slacking! Let’s do one more round!” Kaito groaned as he started to put the suit back on. “Kaito! You and the team won’t need those!”

“Oh, spirits,” is what I hear Elkai mutter under his breath. “What is Toka going to do with us?”

“I don’t know,” Kaito says. Elkai turns around and stares at him.

“It was a rhetorical question.”

“I knew that.”

“Sure you did, Kaito.”

“C’mon, let’s go! Pass the ball!” I threw the “twenty” pound ball at Kaito, hitting him and almost knocking him back. “C’mon, we’re going to be doing this every practice.” Kaito passes the ball to Elkai and back to me. Just that, over and over and over. It seems simple with a “twenty” pound ball, or so I’m told, but trust me, getting hit with it in the chest hurts.

“Ow,” Kaito groans as the ball knocks the wind out of him.

“Let’s go! My father, Toza, could do better, and he’s dead!”

“Are you sure this is twenty pounds?” Elkai was out of breath.

“Yes. Also, mentioning my father, he coached the Fire Ferrets. You know, the one with Avatar Korra, the actor, and the police officer.”

“Cool. Now, can we stop?” Kaito says as he passes it. Toka checks the clock and nods.

“Alright, Jaya and you babies can leave.”

“Hey, we’re not babies.” Kaito and Elkai say in unison.

“Sure.” I grab my duffel bag that my Uncle gave me in one of the boxes that he sent. I wait for Kaito and Elkai and we walk out of the gym.

“So, where do you guys want to eat?” I say while putting on my hoodie vest and black gloves that had the fingers cut off, another one of the gifts Uncle Akahito gave me. I zipped up my black hoodie vest as Elkai put on a thin jacket.

"Aren't you gonna be cold?" Elkai shakes his head.

“Wanna go to the park?” Kaito’s joyous tone made him sound like the kid he always was in his heart.

“Yeah, sure. I’m sure we could find a street vendor. It isn’t that late anyway.” I held the door open for the two of them and exited the gym.

“Great. Let’s go.” We walked down the paved sidewalk, joking and laughing on our way to the park, the street lamps, buildings and the moon and the stars illuminated the nught.

“Is anybody else starting to feel a bit sore?” I say, “Five bruises just formed on both of my arms.”

“Yeah, that twenty-pound ball felt like it was fifty pounds.” Elkai grumbled in agreement. “Let’s have a race to the park, I’m hungry.”

“Alright, what are we waiting for?” I say, but Elkai was already ahead of Kaito and me.

“Nothing, according to Elkai,” Kaito says before starting off. I let out a small laugh as I watched Kaito pass Elkai.

“Eat my dust!” came shortly after Kaito passed him. I passed Elkai as I followed Kaito.

Out of breath, we reached the park, Kaito being first with me following, then there’s Elkai.

“Elkai, you cheated and still lost. Kinda pathetic.” Kaito says as we laughed, coughing and wheezing after. He just scoffed at us.

“Alright, I lost. What do I have to do?”

“Pay for our food.” Kaito grinned as he said this.

“Fine,” Elkai groaned. We started to walk again, looking for a vendor. Surprisingly, the park had a lot of people. I spotted three people who looked familiar.

“Hey, is that Nami, Keiki, and Chyou?”

“Hay is for ostrich horses, Jaya. Well, I think it is.”

“Kaito, I’m serious.”

“Yeah, that’s them. A surprise seeing them here.”

“They said they were going to hang out, remember?” Elkai says, clearly annoyed.

“Let’s go to them,” Kaito said with a smile on his face. Elkai was about to say something but Kaito and I were already running over to them. “Hey! Keiki! Chyou! Nami!” Nami, who was sitting on a bench by a tree, reading, turned around and looked at us. She smiled as we neared. Chyou and Keiki, who were playing with a frisbee, waved at us.

“Hey guys, how was practice?” Keiki had a smile on her face. Elkai was the first to answer.

“It hurt.” Chyou, Kaito, and Keiki laughed as Nami and I smiled. “What? It’s true. Ask these two,” he says, face blank, pointing at Kaito and me.

“Yeah, it did hurt. Plus, I’m hungry.”

“Kaito, you’re always hungry,” I say, unable to suppress my smile.

“I can go get us some food.” Elkai still had a blank face.

“You’re my savior!” Kaito hugged Elkai tightly with a big grin spread across his face. It was evident that Elkai wasn’t enjoying it.

“Kaito, let go.” Kaito obliged and Elkai started to walk.

“Wait-” Chyou followed Elkai. “I’ll go with you. You might need some help.”

“Uh- sure. Thanks, I guess.” He mumbled the last part of the sentence.

“Elkai,” I say as they started down the sidewalk.

“What do you want Jaya?” You could tell he was irked by being stopped multiple times.

“Can you get some ice for my shoulder?” Elkai groaned.

“There’s a pond right there, go bend it yourself.”

“Do I look like a water bender to you?” Chyou was about to answer. “Rhetorical question, Chyou. But seriously, Elkai, just get me some ice, please.”

“Fine. No one better tell me to stop after this.” He and Chyou walked off before we could say anything else.

“So,” Kaito started, “What were you guys doing here?”

“I brought my Pai Sho board, but those two wanted to play with the frisbee so I started to read a book.”

“Well, we’re at the park. Shouldn’t we be playing and having fun? Besides, now that Chyou went with Elkai, who’s gonna play with the frisbee with me?” Kaito’s hand shot up into the air.

“We can play frisbee together!” Keiki smiled, a shy one. “Quick, throw it!” Kaito began to sprint deeper into the field. Keiki closed one eye and lined up the frisbee to her target. She threw it, straight towards Kaito, just above his head. He jumped up and caught it with his mouth. Keiki laughed as Kaito flexed. I looked to my side to see that Nami was sitting on the bench, reading again. I decided to walk over to her and sat down.

“Earth to Nami, are you there?”

“No,”

“Ha, okay, but for real, space cadet, I need to ask you a question.”

“Shoot.”

“Are you this much of a party pooper?”

“I don’t know.” I sighed.

“‘Course you wouldn’t.” I looked down and saw that she was about halfway through the book. “How long have you been reading this book?”

“I started today,” she says while flipping the page.

“Quite the bookworm.” I grab the book from her lap and put it in my duffel bag.

“Hey, I was reading that.”

“And I was sitting here, watching you read that. Come on, talk to me. Talk to me while you still can, ‘cause next thing you know, I’ll be sent off to the United Forces.” She looked up at me.

“Are you?” Her eyes were wide.

“A few years, maybe.” She sighed and silence filled the air. Her face was scrunched up, deep in thought. I watched Keiki tackle Kaito and laugh. “So,” I begin to say.” You haven’t told me if you trusted me yet.” Nami lets out a small laugh.

“I’m stuck between telling you or not.” I give her a fake pout.

“Aw, why won’t you tell me?”

“If I tell you, would you stop asking me?”

“Well, it’s only logical that I’m asking this question for your answer. It would be pretty idiotic for me to keep asking you when you already answered the question.”

“True.” Nami adjusts the way she was sitting, back now against the back of the bench.

“So, are you gonna tell me or not?”

“Yeah, I do. If I said I didn’t, it wouldn’t do you justice, especially with how much fun we had at the pier.” A cold breeze blew and left Nami shivering.

“Why are you always cold?”

“Well, it’s not my fault I can't control my body temperature like you.”

“Why are you so grumpy? Is it because nobody wanted to play Pai Sho with you?” I gave her a teasing grin.

“No.”

“C’mon, admit it. You’re grumpy because nobody wants to play with your board game.” She groaned loudly. “If you’re that grumpy, then I’ll play Pai Sho with you. But, you're probably gonna be grumpier when you lose.”

“Oh, you are so going down.” I took out the board and we set up the pieces with some trash talking here and there. She was about to make the first move but stopped herself. “Wait, how about we make a bet to make things more interesting?”

“What are we going to bet? My dignity? Well, jokes on you, I lost that a long time ago.”

“No. How about-” she skimmed over what we could possibly bet on. “If I win, I get to wear your hoodie vest.” I raised my scarred eyebrow.

“My hoodie vest? Why?”

“I’m pretty cold.”

“But my hoodie is pretty much the same thing as a tank top.”

“C’mon, just bet something.”

“I don’t know what to bet.”

“How about restoring your honor and dignity. You get bragging rights. So, best outta three.”

“Nami, you know I can’t resist earning my dignity back. But, what if I’m perfectly fine without my dignity?”

“Sounds like someone’s scared to lose.”

“I’m not scared.”

“Then bet it. You have nothing to lose, except your hoodie vest for the rest of the night.”

“Fine, and just so you know, you are going to lose.”

“I doubt it, Dopey.” And, she was right. She won the game. We decided to play fast paced Pai Sho, my preferred way of playing it, and I lost three times in a row. It looked like I was winning, but I managed to fail. I gave her my hoodie vest, which she took happily and put it on, the hood covering her head.

“You know, in my defense, I don’t think winning a Pai Sho game would give me my dignity back.”

“Just accept it, Jaya, you lost.” She gave me an innocent smile.

“But-”

“Jaya, think fast!” I turned around and caught a zip lock bag filled with ice from hitting Nami in the face. I looked to see where the bag came from to see that Elkai and Chyou were walking over to us, Elkai wearing a sheepish grin.

“What the fuck, Elkai?”

“You’re asking me ‘What the fuck?’? I should be the one asking you that! How did you react so fast?”

“Reflexes,” I say as I put the ice on my shoulder. “That was a pretty stupid question too.”

“Yeah, it was now that I think of it.”

“Hey, Nami, why are wearing Jaya’s hoodie?” Chyou pointed at Nami.

“I bet her for it. I was cold.”

“Nami, I get that it’s fall, but it’s not that cold.” Elkai looked at the two of us before sitting down. I looked at Nami and grinned at her.

“Shut up, Jaya.”

“I didn’t say anything."

* * *

 “Bye, Nami.”

“Bye, Jaya. See you guys tomorrow.” Kaito and I watched as she closed the door. We started down the street once we realized how late it was.

“So, Kaito, you and Keiki are hitting it off quite well.”

“Yeah, she’s really cool. We kept talking about things that we both like. She even said she loves probending! Can you believe that?”

“Ha, I sure can.”

“We saw you and Nami bonding together. You guys were so cute, laughing and fighting and Nami taking your hoodie.” I stopped in my tracks and facepalmed.

“I forgot about my hoodie.”

“I’m sure she’ll give it back to you tomorrow.”

“Wait, did you say that Nami and I look cute together?”

“Yeah, she seems to be into you.”

“Nah, she can’t be. Plus, I set up my own rules remember? A year before I left, I said ‘I won’t date anyone.’ and a whole set of other rules. I’m still sticking to that statement especially with what happened while I was away. Besides, you should’ve seen Elkai and Chyou! They were so awkward sitting next to each other. They were trying to be as far away from each other as they can. They wouldn’t say anything to each other. I’m sure that they think nobody saw their occasional looks at each other, with you and Keiki trying to get the frisbee out of the tree and Nami laughing at me because I kept losing to her in Pai Sho.” Kaito let out a laugh.

“Did you even win against Nami?”

“I think I won once.” This time, Kaito laughed harder.

“Dude, you got schooled. You were the best at Pai Sho at school!”

“Yeah, I sure did.”

“Oh yeah, and Jaya?” I hummed a response. “Will you ever tell me where you went to?”

“One day, I will, but that day is not today.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> poor Kaito, he doesn't know that Nami's taken by her trust issues


	6. Beleaguer

m“C’mon! C’mon! Today’s the big day! You two babies are acting like this match is decades away!” Toka yelled at Kaito and Elkai. Kaito kicked a disk at me, which I blocked with the end of my hand. I bounced on my feet as he sent more disks flying at me. I dodged one to the right and one went right in between my legs. Kaito paused, giving me the chance to return the attacks. His eyes widen and bends a disk at me, hitting my chest and at the same time, the flames hit his chest causing him to fall over. We were still trying to get that hang of pro-bending.

“Ow!” I groan as I get up and walk over to him.

“Get up! Maybe you guys should stop and save your energy for the match.” Toka walked out of the gym and Kaito and I walked over to where Elkai was sitting. He was on his phone, smiling and texting.

“It’s already the day of our first match. Why can't I get the hang of this?”

“Hey, take it easy on yourself, Jaya. We’ll get used to it sooner or later.” Kaito sits down next Elkai. “Wait, is that a smile, I see?” Kaito puts a hand on Elkai’s shoulder.

“I don’t know. What do you see?” Elkai responds, sarcasm practically dripping from his words.

“Aww, he is smiling! Who are you texting that’s making you smile.” Elkai hides his phone before Kaito could get a look at the screen.

“Nobody, it’s none of your business.”

“Oh, Jaya, it must be his secret admirer and he fell in love with her.” I laugh as Elkai glares at Kaito.

“No, it’s not my secret admirer.”

“If it’s not your secret admirer, is it your mom?” Elkai punches the earthbender in the arm as Kaito and I laugh at his crimson cheeks.

“No it’s- ugh- let’s just go to the locker rooms and put on our uniforms. After the next match, we’ll be on the platform.”

“Yeah, Elkai’s right,” I say as I lead the way. We all jog down the hallways, looking at the pictures of the arena a couple of decades ago. The hallways told stories through objects and short paragraphs. We all slowed to a walk and passed by the uniform used by Avatar Korra. The uniform and gloves were kept in a glass case for everybody to look at. It looked like it was in perfect condition, the colors vibrant. There was a black and white picture of the arena and next to it was the same picture but with colors. You could see the three elements clashing against each other and the players, the crowd yelling and cheering. Just by looking at the picture, you could feel the energy and excitement and it made me more hyped up to soon be on the platform.

We reached the locker room where you could see the platform, scoreboard and the crowd. The next match was beginning, the announcer introducing the teams and their players. Once they got in starting position, the grates blinking red twice then green. That’s when it happened, the clash of the elements. The crowd roared as one player was knocked back into zone two, then past the last zone, into the water.

The arena has been used ever since the very first match. Located in the city, the pro-bending arena has been the only thing close to being a tradition, here. There have been no other arenas that have held pro-bending matches, this arena having a few changes, but keeping this steampunk vibe. The arena used to have a red side and a blue side, but now, it was changed to a black and a white side, the ropes on each side being the color from the opposite side. The scoreboard also changed. From four giant bulbs to spotlights against a wall. There was also a giant jumbotron hanging from the glass roof, but it didn’t cover the view of the platform. Everything else was kept and preserved or restored back to its original look. Also, in the corners were stations for cameramen and of course, the special announcers’ box. The Shinobi kin has been the official family for announcing pro-bending games. I believe Shiro Shinobi III was now being trained by Shinobi Jr.

I respect their decision of keeping the look and feel of the arena. It’s preserving the sport’s history in Republic City.

I started to put on my uniform, and I will tell you this; it was so much comfier and lighter than the training uniform. Of course, that probably means that there is less protection, but what can we do?

“Knockout!” The crowd cheered as the three players of the winning team stood in the middle of the platform, waving. “And the Avatar Korra High Polar Bears win with a knockout!”

“Better watch out for that team,” Kaito says staring out at the players huddling for a picture for the press and media.

“Yeah.” I had already started to put on my uniform as Kaito and Elkai polished our red and white helmets. Our uniform looked a lot like the ones the Fire Ferrets wore during the time of Avatar Korra. The red padding lined with a gold on the cream base. Instead of the Future Industries logo on our chest, we had the outline of a dragon. We had a small maroon plate the size of an index card on our chest and the outline of the dragon breathing fire in a deep red.  Actually, the uniforms haven’t changed that much over the years, either. The only big difference was that the last names were on the back of the uniform with a number to easily identify who’s who during the match.

“How am I supposed to dry this? Do I use a rock and scratch it up?” Elkai sighed. I folded the collar of my uniform. Three players wearing a uniform with a dark gray scheme walked through the doors and spared us one glance.

“No, stupid. I just wanted you to hold it and I could waterbend it off later.” I tied my red belt around my waist and started to walk over to my teammates.

“Why do I need to hold it?”

“So you can- never mind.” Kaito was watching Elkai move a small stream of water, waving his hand frantically, trying to wipe a smudge off. I produced a flame in my hand and dried off the water. Kaito was startled by the sudden burst near him and dropped the helmet, kicking it in an attempt to knock it back up and catch it. The helmet had other plans. It hit me in the face and bounced off, hitting Kaito’s face on the way down, landing on Kaito’s lap.

“Ow!”

“Hey, keep it down would you?” One of the players said in a deep, monotone voice. It sounded like it came from a man in his mid-twenties.

“Spirits, how are we going to win when a helmet can knock the both of you out?” Kaito and I glared at Elkai.

“The kid’s right. That’s pretty pathetic.” The monotone voice came again, the players not looking at us.

“Now, for the last professional pro-bending match of the night, let us introduce the teams!” Shinobi Jr. and Shinobi III yelled over the microphone. Here, on this side of the arena, we have the Ba Sing Se Badgermoles!” The two of them paused as the crowd cheered.

“And on this side, we have the White Falls Wolfbats!” This time, the crowd cheered louder as the trio stepped onto the platform that carried them to the hexagon. They walked to zone one and got in their starting position.

“Round 1! Begin!” The Badgermoles took a defensive route, letting the Wolfbats strike first. They blocked most of the attacks, but some got through their defenses. I turned back to Kaito and picked up the helmet that he kicked at my face. Elkai scooted closer to Kaito.

“Great, you scratched the helmet.” He pointed to the visor. Kaito leaned forward to get a better look and ended up getting slapped by Elkai.

“Ow!” Kaito rubbed his cheek.

“Quit fooling around, we could be called onto the platform any moment.” Elkai was right. The moment after he said that, the commentators declared that the Wolfbats won by a knockout.

“And it looks like the Wolfbats blow them out of the water!”

“More like into the water, technically speaking!” Elkai and Kaito gawk at the athletes. They step off of the platform and onto the floor of the locker room.

“And history repeats itself,” the waterbender with the monotone voice said as he left the room. I look over to my two teammates whose mouths were agape.

“Come on, guys. Time to get on the moving platform.” They close their mouths and bring their helmets with them. We step on and wait for the intermission to end.

“Alright! To end off this exciting night of fast-paced action,” the host starts, “We have the Avatar Aang Academy Sky Bison!” The students cheer and stomp their feet while some boo at them. Once they’re halfway to the hexagon, the host turns to us. “And against the Sky Bison are…” he pauses and then points at us. “The Fire Lord Zuko High Dragons!” The crowd cheers as the blinding spotlight shines on us. In return, we get boos from the opposing side. Kaito and Elkai waved at the ecstatic fans, but, I stood there looking ahead, blocking out the voices, my helmet held between my side and my arm.

“Jaya!” I am able to make out my name from the crowd and I turn to where the voice came from. I looked around, scanning the unfamiliar faces until I’m met with Nami’s green eyes. She waves at me with a big smile on her face. She’s with Chyou, Keiki and her parents. I raise my hand at her and grin. She, Keiki, and Chyou reach below the barrier and the metal pole and hold up a sign. The sign makes me smile bigger and I elbow Kaito in the shoulder. He looks at me and I point to the sign. He, too, smiles.

“Dude, the things I would give to have that poster hung in my room.” The poster said “Feel the heat of the Dragons! (and Elkai)” They drew us in our uniforms with dragons behind us. I had my arms crossed and he had his arm on my shoulder. We looked serious and determined, a grin spreading across both of our faces. A lot of detail and effort was put into it. From the smallest detail, such as the light against our eyes and the scars of my eyebrow to the little crack on the frame of Kaito’s glasses. Then, there was Elkai. He looked like he was drawn by a six-year-old, a stick figure with a frown. His eyebrows were literally in a “v” shape and his right hand was connected to a sky blue line. Elkai must have noticed the sign because he was frowning, just like the drawing. I waved at them and put on my helmet as we step onto the main platform. We were on the black side and approached the middle. We shook hands with each other. They were really friendly. Their waterbender was a bit shorter than the rest of us. She closed her eyes as she smiled. Her smile was so wide it made my cheeks hurt.

“Good luck. Hopefully, no one will get injured badly,” her high-pitched voice was barely audible with the crowd going crazy and the Shinobis yelling their heads off.

“Yeah, good luck to you and your teammates.” She released my hand from her tight grip. I walked back with Kaito and Elkai and got in starting position, just like how Toka taught us.

“Hey, Jay?”

“Yeah?”

“I don’t think I can do this.”

“Don’t quit now."

"It’s not like we have a choice. We’re already here.”

“3,” the host starts.

“My mom’s watching us, though, Jay.”

"2!"

“Pressure’s on,” I say, bending my knees.

"One!" Air horns go off. “Round one!” The bell signals the start of the round. I quickly send bursts of fire their way, aiming at the firebender. Earth disks come my way and I block them with some of Kaito’s help, though, the dust blocked my vision. Another disk came my way but missed, barely. A chunk of it broke off and more dust surrounded me as a burst of fire hit me in my chest. I held my stance as I was pushed back a few feet. I threw back flames, helping to clear out the cloud of dust. One of the bursts hit their earthbender and Elkai sends a stream of water at him, knocking him off balance and into zone two.

I focused my vision on the waterbender and sent heat at her while she was attacking Kaito. The flames hit her and she hit the ropes. She recovered quickly, bouncing back and hitting Kaito, sending him to the ground. Kaito recovered as quick as she did, jumping up, flipping and sent several disks at her. The waterbender dodged the first wave but was knocked back into zone two, then to zone three as Elkai sent a stream at her as she got up. Their firebender focused on Elkai, but he was able to block his shots. I attacked him as Kaito focused on the earthbender in zone two. The firebender noticed my attack and countered it. I blocked his attack and Kaito was hit by a blast of water, sending him to our second zone. I was caught off guard by a disk and joined my brother. Elkai held his stance, dancing with their firebender. Elkai rolled and hit the firebender in the face as I sent a burst of fire at the guy’s chest while another disk skimmed my face. Their earthbender really doesn’t like me.

The firebender was knocked into zone two and the grate in the middle turned green. Elkai ran to gain the territory and we joined him. Before we could send more attacks at each other, the bell rang.

“Round one goes to the Dragons!” I looked over at Nami as we walked to the middle of the platform, kicking the debris in an attempt to help clean up. The trio was still holding up the sign, jumping up, Mrs. Chang and Mr. Chang joining them in their excitement. But, I couldn’t find Miss Kal anywhere. The opposing team was huddling up, making a small circle.

“Hey, Jr., do you see that sign over there?” Looks like the Shinobis found their next victim.

“By the first row?”

“Yes.” There was a laugh.

“That is a nice drawing of Tanaka and Kal, but Tlate-Hiin is the best one out of the three drawings.”

“I agree,” he says as they both snort.

“The frown looks like his right now!” This causes Elkai to frown more.

“I hate you guys.”

“Sure you do, Elkai,” Kaito says with a smile before wrapping his arm around his shoulder and grinning as Elkai stood there awkwardly.

Once the debris was cleaned off, the second round began. It was more explosive than the first round. This time, the Sky Bison were given the advantage, all three of us were knocked back a zone. Most of the match took place there, but we held it together and managed to gain back the missing territory. The sounded again and the three of us all sighed in relief. My arm was sore and I was sure there were a few bruises forming on my shoulder, aside from the ache I felt from the semi-healed wound on my arm.

“Alright, alright get in positions, break time’s over.” One of the refs looked like they were itching to go home. We walked to our spots. I stretched my arms around, they were starting to cramp up.

“I wonder what these two teams have in store for us in round three,” Shinobi Jr. said.

“We’ll just have wait and see, son.” The host put the mic up to his mouth and we all straightened up our backs.

“Round three!” The bell rung and the Sky Bison attacked first and we had no choice but to take the defensive end. The earthbender targeted me again and swung, throwing disk after disk at me. Once I got an opening I let out a burst of fire that curved, avoiding the disks he used as shields. It took him by surprise but he kept going. All I could see was fire and dust mixing in with each other. Kaito sent their firebender back a zone and helped me. Elkai did the opposite. He tumbled into zone two and almost into zone three. Kaito grunted as a stream of water hit him. Almost as fast as the stream hit him, one almost hit me. I rolled out of the way, the shot skimming my arm. The earthbender followed me to my left where Kaito was standing. He bent disks at us aimlessly. The round ended up in a tie, no territory gained or lost, aside from the firebender and Elkai being forced back.

“Tiebreaker!” We all gathered at the middle and the ref tosses the coin. It flips and stays in the air for a second before falling down. Metal hits metal and the black side of it shows on top. The host looks at us.

“Which element wou-”

“Fire!” Kaito and Elkai both yell out. I stare daggers at them as they both grin sheepishly.

“Thanks, guys. I really I appreciate it.”

“Well, folks, it looks like the Dragons have a chance at winning their first match if the Sky Bison can’t handle the heat!” I stepped onto the smaller platform with their firebender in front of me. The platform was raised and the lights dimmed, the spotlights shining at us. We both got into our stance and the host counted down.

“3, 2, 1!” The bell sounded and he was the first to strike, flames missing my head by a hair. I bent down and pushed away his arm by reflex before sticking my foot out to trip him. He falls and grabs the sleeve of my uniform and throws me down with him. I try to firebend at him but my body hits the floor of the platform. Usongmy firebending as jets, get up and dodge his kicks and I end up standing over him. The tiebreakers are really violent. I have a busted bottom lip and a cut on my right temple and the firebender had a bloody nose, somehow. But, he looked like he was in pretty good shape for having been thrown around by rushing streams of water and earth disks.

“What about that folks! This is the highlight of my night, dad!”

“That reminds me of the highlight of the other night I spent with your mother!”

“But you guys aren’t benders…” Shinobi Jr. went silent for a moment but I didn’t really notice all that much since the guy was still attacking me. He pushes me down and he falls on top of me. At this point, I feel drained from all energy, but I still give it my all and throw him off of the platform. The crowd goes silent for a second as I lay supine, breathing heavily. The bell rings as half of the crowd cheers and the other half is silent or booing at us. The firebender’s teammates rush over to him as Kaito and Elkai rush to me. I sat up and looked around. Cameras were flashing and I could see Nami, Chyou, and Keiki going crazy.

The host came over to where Elkai and Kaito were standing and I joined them.

“And the match goes to the Dragons!” Kaito’s and Elkai’s smiles were contagious and I couldn’t help but laugh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What do you guys think about this chapter?

**Author's Note:**

> Feedback is always welcome and much appreciated :)


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